Gustickey, Davidonald, Goofran: The Three Musketubers
by Gus Solo's Parodies
Summary: Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran are normal janitors in 17th century's France, but their dream is to be royal musketubers. They get their wish, but it's not so easy as they originally thought. This is rated T (just to be safe). There's blood, "cartoonish physical violence," and some romance. (There will be a comic and a Spanish version of this fic.)


Chapter 1: Our Story Begins

The screen was black and some sounds were heard as the scene was set. The lights came back on to a full screen revealing the makers of the production. _Gus Solo__'s__ Parodies Productions. _Another screen. _Based on Evan Spiliotopoulos & Donovan Cook__'s__ Disney movie. _Another screen. _Gus Solo__'s Parodies__ Productions Presents._ The movie began.

"Set dresser to the stage," said a woman from off screen.

"Check lights," said an off-stage man.

"Hey, where's that boy with my narrator?" came another man's voice.

The title came to the screen: "_Gustickey, Davidonald, Goofran: The Three Musketubers_." The title goes away to reveal a black-haired boy wearing glasses, with magazine in hand. The boy seemed engrossed in his reading... perhaps too engrossed.

"_Singing, singing, singing, singing all say long. When I'm singing, there is nothing that is wrong. Musketubers, hey__!_" The boy gave a glance where the audience would be and, as if self-conscious about himself, stopped proclaiming so loudly. Instead, he went with, "_La, la, la, la, la, la, la._"

"Talent to the set, please!" The woman from before said.

"We're live in 60 seconds," said a man.

"60 seconds?!" The boy was shocked and leaped from his chair, but not before making sure to stow away his magazine in his pocket.

"Where's the narrator?" The woman sounded annoyed.

The boy went up to a door with a gold star on it. "_Monsieur_ Narrator, _monsieur_ Narrator! _M-M-Monsieur_! _Monsieur_, it is time!" He knocked insistently on it while calling out loudly to the man inside. The door slammed open, crushing the poor boy behind it. A resurrected Alexandre Dumas came out, book in hand. He really didn't want to read today. He began walking off, but not before the boy began interrupting his progress.

"_Monsieur_. _Pardonnez-moi_. But today is the day, right, _monsieur_? Because you promised I can sing my songs about the Musketubers, right?" He took a lute from out of his pocket and his boy's face lit up as he began to sing, "_All for one-_" His lute was taken from him by Dumas. The author smashed the lute on the boy's head, causing a comic effect in which his underwear was temporarily visible. "But, _monsieur_, you promised..." Luque the Troubadour protested quietly as Alexandre walked away. Dumas had his nose in the book, reviewing it before having to read it aloud.

As Dumas passed by him, Luque noticed where he was heading. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. _Monsieur. Monsieur. Monsieur_,wait! Wait! The stage is-" He couldn't finish because Dumas had fallen into a trap door followed by a scream. "This way," he finished, pointing the other way. The book Dumas had in his hands somehow bounced up from down below. It was now flying through the air.

"Let's have some quiet, people," a man's voice came.

"Five seconds to air," another said. By this time, the book had struck Luque somehow and began to ricochet him around.

"Cue music," another said.

"And... action!" By this time, Luque had unfortunately wound up in the chair that was meant to be Alexandre Dumas' chair. The lights were on and the camera was rolling.

"What's that boy doing out there?" One asked.

"Where's the narrator?" Another asked.

"We're live," a woman said in realization and wariness.

"Just go with it," a man said. To the boy, he said, "Hey, you! Don't just sit there like a statue! Do something!" Luque was incredibly camera-shy. He found his head going into his T-shirt to hide a moment, hoping it would all go away. His head re-emerged and the man continued. "You're on camera! For crying out loud, say somethin'!"

"Uh... hello," Luque said shyly. As he shook with fear, his magazine fell into his lap.

"Tell the story!" The man went on.

Luque was struck with an idea then. He was, after all, holding a comic in his hands. (A big enough comic that it looked like a magazine.) He could very well tell _this _story. Besides, with his head in a book the whole time, he'd forget the camera was even there. "Ah," he said aloud, voicing his epiphany. He cleared his throat shakily, but said, in as confident a voice as he could muster, "Today I will tell you the story of... _da da da, _'The Three Musketubers'!" He waved his comic around proudly. "This is my favorite version: the one with pictures! And, of course, _my songs,_" he laughed triumphantly. He'd get to sing his songs after all.

He began: "Our story begins in the gutter..." The first picture is that of a younger Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran. A small yellow dog was behind Gustickey. They were in urchins' clothing and Gustickey was sadly cutting out a tin can with a fork and knife. The other two were looking at it sadly. They were possibly thinking: _Worst. Meal. Ever._

The boy continued: "... where poor street urchins Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran struggle to survive."

The picture changes to one of a bunch of bad guys: Sergio, Juan, and Villanueva. They had Goofran and Davidonald in a state of fear, while Pluto and Gustickey were defiant to the bad guys (even though they were the only ones in their clutches). "_Zut allors_! Bad guys! Will anyone defend these innocent children? Anyone! Anyone! Anyone! Well, anyone?" The pictures changed a few times, showing the three getting thrown around by the bad guys before the scene changed again.

"Ah ha! The royal Musketubers! Yes!" Luque proclaimed triumphantly. A golden silhouette showed around three tall, dark, and handsome men in uniform who had come to save the day. A few pictures go by of the Musketubers throwing around the bad guys.

"And after the dust settles, a kindly Musketuber gives Gustickey a gift." It was a specially made hat, exclusive to those who served in the Musketubers. Little Gustickey tried it on, but the hat drooped and covered his eyes due to his height. "Ah, don't worry, Gustickey, you'll grow into it."

Another picture showed a golden silhouette around the three children in Musketuber costume (well, the best they could do, anyway). They had wooden swords and each of them had some sort of hat on their heads (Davidonald had a pot on his head). Pluto stood happily next to Gustickey. Luque continued the story: "From that day on, Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran dreamed of being great Musketubers!" The picture transitioned to a picture of the trio (and pet with a bucket on his mouth) grown up in janitor's clothing and gear. "Ah, but as the years passed, their dream was still as far away as ever. You see, before their dream can come true, our three heroes must learn the real meaning of the Musketuber creed: 'All for one and one for all'! And, I just so happen to have a song about this!" He laughed triumphantly. The scene had taken a change and Luque had become part of the scenes in the story. As he had always dreamed, he was being a troubadour, he was wearing now a black troubadour hat with a big red feather attached to it along a blue cape and black boots, just like in the days of old at Drama classes. He began playing his lute in a merry tune...

Chapter 2: Musketubers Sing All For One And One For All!

Luque began playing his lute in a merry tune just as several Musketubers on horseback were coming up behind him, he managed to jump in time to grab hold of a big flag's mast. Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan were among the many Musketubers there. The song was sung by Luque and all the other Musketubers. It went like this:

"_All for one, hey!_" They all sang as they stood over their horses while rising their swords.

"_All for one and one for all!_" Porthos sang.

"_Musketubers sing all for one and one for all!_" Luque's voice was more obvious on the creed part, but other than that, it was all of them. They all continued: "_If you dare to cross our path, prepare to fall, 'cause we'll fight you. All for one and one for all and all for one and one for all and all for one and all!_" They sang as they crossed a bridge that had river below it, they kept singing as they arrived to a residence and they saluted to Captain Iván, their infamous boss, who succeeded Captain Trévile: Iván was a curly, black-haired and obese boy with a thin beard and moustache.

"_So, if you think you'd care to kick some derriere you know that as a Musketuber you'd be so fearsome. If you believe you're manly, come and join our family. Soon, we'll make sure you're a Musketuber._"

Watching the Musketubers training on their swords were Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran. They were looking at them, obviously they were amazed, from behind the bars from the basement of the residence we saw a few moments ago. These guys were their idols.

"Oh, look at 'em, fellas. That's gonna be us out there someday... I just know it," said Gustickey, his eyes shining in optimism, as his friends looked at him.

"I can't wait," said Goofran looking at their heroes and then at Davidonald.

"Yeah, me too," said Davidonald resting his head over his right arm.

"_All for one all men of honor hear the call. Musketubers sing: All for one and one for all! All for one, hey! All for one and one for all. All for one, hey! All for one and one for all and all for one and one for all and all for one and all!_" The Musketubers sang.

"All for one and one for all!" proclaimed Luque. With that, the song finished.

The scene changes to Gustickey. He's putting shoe shine on Musketuber shoes. Goofran is mopping the floor and Davidonald is getting tools from a toolbox. "Yep, janitors today, Musketubers tomorrow," said Gustickey optimistically as he looked into his own reflection on the shiny shoes.

Just then, he heard some barking and saw Pluto bringing him his hat. The kind dog let out a cute barking noise and set the hat in front of Gustickey. "Hey, my lucky Musketuber hat! Thanks, Pluto," said Gustickey, stroking his hand on the dog's head. The animal let out a contented bark at the treatment. "Remember when the Musketubers gave me this hat, Pluto? They even autographed it. See?" He picked up the brim of the hat to reveal the signatures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan in fancy script as Pluto barked, remembering that day. "I can't wait to be a great big hero..." His daydream was cut short with a hit to the back of his head from Goofran's mop. "Ow! Careful, Goofran!" In his recoil, he accidentally knocked the pot of shoe shine into Goofran's mop water. He didn't seem to notice it... and neither did Goofran.

"Sorry, Gustickey..." said Goofran to Gustickey. He put his mop into the mop water to get some "fresh water" as he continued. "I can't wait to be a Musketuber either. I have plenty of good ideas. Musketubers could use a clever guy like me..." He might have continued, but he just so happened to look down just then to notice the floor stained and dirty. He gasped and bit his nails as he tried to mop it out, but only succeeded in making it worse. "Yipe!"

"Hey, Davidonald! What about you?" asked Gustickey.

Davidonald had selected a pipe wrench from his toolbox and was working on a pipe just then. "Are you kidding? Musketubers need men like me that are brave," Davidonald said, wiggling his eyebrows meaningfully.

"Yeah, and they need guys that are brave too," said Gustickey, polishing a boot with a rag.

"That's what I said, brave," said Davidonald. Just then, the pipes rattled, causing Davidonald to jump into hiding. After a moment, he came out of his hiding place in his toolbox, looked at the pipe and, seeing it to be stable, laughed a little at himself as the pipe wrench covered his head like a hat.

Meanwhile, a few floors up, Captain Iván was getting undressed for a shower as he put on a pink shower cap. He hummed to himself contentedly before he shifted his wooden leg into the bath painfully. Then, he grabbed his soap, attached to a rope, and scrub brush from the floor. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sirree, I've been looking forward to this all month," he said, a small smile on his face.

Back with Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran, the three were still up to their chores. Goofran had gone to get something to fix his mess: sandpaper. "Maybe I can sand it out," he said, coming in with a whole stack of sandpaper. He began sanding away at the mess on the floor, but little did he know, one of the pieces of sandpaper wound up on Gustickey's workbench.

When Gustickey reached back for his rag, he came up with the sandpaper instead. He was off somewhere else in his mind as the sandpaper sanded off the boot. When the dust cleared, he found nothing left of the boot but the bottom. He gasped at the result. He looked in his hand where the sandpaper still was and went "Huh?!" wondering how sandpaper wound up on his bench.

To fix his mistake, Gustickey took a complete boot from the bench, ripped it apart, and tried slamming the top half of the boot onto the bottom. It had a little difficulty sticking at first, but then, it looked like it worked. It stayed put! For maybe one second before peeling apart. Gustickey's smile went down with the peeling bottom. He looked around nervously, searching for another solution to his problem. It was then that he noticed there was a jar of glue on the top shelf of the nearby cupboard. He climbed up the pipes and onto a valve. Independent by nature, he wanted to do it himself. He reached for the glue, just inches from his fingers. "Almost..." he reached for it more, but he caused the valve under him to turn. In trying to regain his balance, the valve turned madly under his feet, causing pressure to build. This caused problems on Davidonald's end.

Davidonald was working on the pipes with a pipe wrench, trying to make a good seal. The pressure in the pipes built up by Gustickey came to him and caused the pipe to expand, then rip off the wall, whipping the poor boy around. It had become a hose of water, shooting water everywhere. Poor Davidonald held on for dear life.

On Iván's end, he was enjoying his shower still. As he was scrubbing himself up, he sang a song to himself, "_A... I am so adorable, B... I am so beautiful_..." He blinked his eyes into the water. Suddenly, the water flow stopped. "What?" He looked at the shower head, mystified as to why it stopped.

Back downstairs, Goofran had gone from sandpaper to a floor buffer, still trying to get the show polish off the floor. The poor man was too thin to be able to hold onto it well enough though. He would soon lose control.

Davidonald wasn't having much luck with the pipe either. It had stopped whipping him around and was instead wrapped about him like a snake. Water was still coming out and he was batting at the spout with his pipe wrench, trying to get it to stop. The pipe was somehow able to wrap around the pipe wrench and was coming after Davidonald. He ran away in fear. As he ran away, the pipe came off the wall further, snapping out of its brackets.

Gustickey was still trying to reach the glue on the shelf. "Almost... got it," he said hopefully. The jar was close to gracing his fingers. Goofran came over on the buffer and collided with the wall. This caused the cupboard to shake and the glue fell off the shelf. Gustickey caught it before it hit the ground. "I got it!" It was too soon though. Goofran collided with him and in the process, the jar got onto his head. Gustickey held onto the buffer for dear life screaming, "Whoa! Goofran, look out!" Davidonald was running their way, still running from the pipe. They all collided. Now they weren't just on a ride with the buffer, but the pipe streaming water was also a propeller. The pipe's brackets came off further, now affecting the floors above them. This led to Iván's shower. As he was tapping the shower head, still wondering why water wasn't coming out, the tub fell out of the floor. The pipe being dragged by the janitors downstairs was attached to his tub. So, he fell through a few floors until he reached the bottom in a cloud of dust.

The three janitors had since gotten tangled in the pipe. They watched as the shower head came rolling their way from the tub. They looked to the tub as the curtain opened to a dazed Iván. Gustickey was the first to take initiative. "Oh, Captain Iván!" He said with a salute. His two friends followed suit. Iván may or may not have saluted back, but, being dazed as he was, he just fell out of the tub in a damp heap.

Once Iván came to his senses and got dressed, he threw the three janitors into the laundry room. The three were thrown against a wall before they fell in a heap on the floor. "Now, listen, you yardsticks! I am sick and tired of your screw-ups! You guys are hopeless! I leave you for five minutes and I come back to a disaster!" He had hobbled into the room with his wooden leg and crutch. It didn't help that his left leg was gone. He still stood as an intimidating person over the three though.

Gustickey came to the meek defense. "Well, we were practicing our teamwork so that we can be good Musketubers," he said as he got out of the heap.

"Musketubers?" Iván started chuckling, then full-out laughing. It sounded to him like the greatest joke ever written. He actually collapsed onto his side and started banging a barrel and smashing his crutch on the ground at the hilarity of it all. The three friends were now all standing and watching the captain, mystified. After a few aftershock laughs, Iván got up onto his feet again, put his crutch back under his arm, and took out a handkerchief. He began wiping his forehead with it. He breathed out, calming himself. "That's priceless," he said.

"But we could work really hard and prove ourselves, Captain Iván! And then would you let us be Musketubers?" Gustickey asked, giving his most adorable smile.

"Well, there's three things wrong with that," said Iván with a deadpanned face. "One!" He screamed as he pointed at Davidonald, who started to stutter and cackle a bit and shrunk into his hat to hide after becoming somehow a chicken for a brief second. Little lights where the boy's eyes and glasses were showed from under the hat. "You're a stuttering coward!" Iván finished for Davidonald.

"Two..." Iván continued. He made two fingers and made his way to Goofran. The poor man was making a poor case for himself. There was a dial tone heard and Iván realized it came from Goofran. He leaned into the man's ear and heard: _'__We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected.' _Iván recoiled in disgust. "Ugh, you're a hyperactive doofus." The man was still as spaced out as ever as he drooled a bit.

"And, you, well, you're just a nerd _too small,_" Iván said to Gustickey, shrinking his index finger and thumb in emphasis. Gustickey shrank back out of fear and intimidation. Iván went on his speech. "Why, I wouldn't have you yahoos as Musketubers even if you were the last recruits in all of my beloved France!" He pushed in Gustickey's glasses and nose, which kept pushed in until Gustickey put them correctly and gave himself a small bonk on the head to make his nose come out. "So, you won't need _this, _will ya?" Iván asked, grabbing the Musketubers' special hat from Gustickey's head. He scrunched it up until it was a small sphere. Gustickey had been watching this in horror all the while. Iván took Gustickey's hand, put the ball in it, and said, "Here, kid, have a ball! Have a ball! That's a good one!" He laughed loudly as he exited, still admiring his joke as he walked out. "I'm going to send that one in to the Digest."

Gustickey looked at the scrunched up hat sadly. He put it on his head, a pouty expression on his face. The poor boy looked about ready to cry. His friends were sad for him. Then, the door slammed shut, shocking the room and causing the piles of Musketuber uniforms to fall on top of the trio. They came out of the pile, one by one. Goofran came out with one of the uniforms' capes covering his head. Davidonald just looked sad. Gustickey looked sad as well, but shortly after coming out of the pile, his hat popped back to its original shape, feather and all.

Chapter 3: One True Love

Not so far away from the janitors' laundry room and the Musketubers training hall was a great palace (which looked a good deal like a ginormous mansion). In this great palace was a princess by the name of Sílvinnie. She sat on her throne, picking petals off of a flower. "He loves me," she said, sighing happily. "He loves me a lot." She blew the petal away daintily and went for another petal. "He loves me." Another petal gets blown away. "He loves me even more." Another petal is daintily blown away. "He loves me." All these petals were being blown onto the head of an unfortunate lady-in-waiting. The lady-in-waiting, Daisofía, was a great friend to the princess, but this was crossing a line: her annoyance line.

"Pardon me, Your Highness," said Daisofía, blowing the petals from off of her head. "You're kinda mangling that flower, who's the, uh, lucky guy?" She asked, coming closer to the princess's side.

"My one true love," said Sílvinnie dreamily, still holding the flower in her hands. She sighed happily. "I'll find him some day. He's out there, I just _know _it!"

"This fantasy man... do you happen to know if he's royalty?" Daisofía nodded her head as if trying to make the princess subconsciously agree with her.

"Does it matter?" Sílvinnie asked, rocking in her throne restlessly.

"Well, as you know, someone of your _royal _stature must be courted by a gentleman of _royal_ blood." Sílvinnie drooped in her throne, un-amused at having her dreams crushed by realism.

"What a _royal_ pain," said Sílvinnie, rising from her throne and heading away. Daisofía followed her.

"Your Highness, you're gonna have to pick someone sooner or later. I mean, tick-tock, huh?" She emphasized. It was true, princesses didn't live long and, in order for her family to stay on the throne, she would need a husband so that they could make heirs. The two walked down the hallway outside the throne room. If they continued this way, they'd reach the door to the gardens.

"Daisofía, I can't marry someone I'm not in love with," Sílvinnie said in an almost reprimanding tone.

"You want love? Buy a dog. Besides, the perfect guy isn't gonna just walk through the _door_ and even if he does, how are you gonna know he's the one?"

Sílvinnie giggled girlishly. "Oh, I'll know. Just imagine: He'll _stride_ into the room, a light will _glow_ from him, I'll hear _music, _he'll bring me flowers, he'll _sweep_ me off my feet..." Sílvinnie began twirling Daisofía around, their hands joined. "... And I'll _know_ he's the one when he makes me laugh." They stopped spinning and Daisofía giggled.

"Your majesty, oh, forgive me for saying so, but that sounds..." She might have said "ridiculous" or "foolish," but Sílvinnie's eyes were gleaming chocolate brown and blinked. They only gleamed that color when she was especially emotional. The smile on her lips was one of great hope. She was lovestruck by a guy she hadn't even met yet! Daisofía couldn't bring herself to crush the princess's dreams though. "... Just lovely." Sílvinnie put the flower in a vase and headed for the door to the gardens.

"Trust me, Daisofía, I'll know him when I see him." She left out the garden door, just as the second to last petal fell. The flower had brown small petals on the middle and some reddish ones behind it. Anyone looking at it would recognize them as the colors of a certain boy.

Sílvinnie, meanwhile, was in the palace gardens. She twirled around in her pink gown as she went toward a pink rose-bush. She gingerly picked one, careful of the thorns, and made her way down the steps gracefully. As she went down, she passed by Luque, who was playing his lute the whole while. He sat atop the railing at the bottom of the stairs. He took off his hat in greeting to her. "Why, _bonjour,_" she said, curtsying to him in reply.

Luque sighed as Sílvinnie walked away. "A romantic princess deserves a romantic song, I think," he said. He played a new tune on his lute. He began, "_Just around the corner seeking you, puppy love is tripping lightly into view. Hiding in the hedgerows, sneaking up on tip-toes, love's first kiss is blissfully about to capture you..._" Sílvinnie made her way through the garden. She passed by the gardener, who greeted her the same way Luque did by taking off his hat. Only he bowed as well. Sílvinnie curtsied in reply. The gardener watched his princess as she moved on to another part of the garden.

Sílvinnie passed by one of the fountains and soon came up to two purple butterflies fluttering by. They fluttered near her and danced with her through the garden, one holding her dress and another holding her hand. Luque's song continued, "_Just around the corner wafting close. Love is creeping nearer than you might suppose. So, sit still and wait now, let love choose your fate now. Take a pause, don't run, because it's right behind you, let love find_ _you_." As the song was being sung, three guys in brown robes, black clothes, and black masks wandered in the bushes, dragging a safe with them. Sílvinnie didn't notice them.

Luque's song continued, "_Young love! It's love, love, love, love, love, love so lovely. What can you say to love but love?_" Sílvinnie made her way further into the garden. She stood behind some rose bushes, looking beyond them to see the gardener and his wife. She gave him a cup of tea and they both sat down together, holding each other closely. Sílvinnie smiled, happy for them. She went on.

Sílvinnie was on her way back to the palace, having had her fill of the glorious garden for the day. Unbeknownst to her, the three men in dark clothing were right behind her. They dragged the safe with them, malicious looks on their faces, and made their way further on. Sílvinnie went back to the steps into the palace and sat down on them, rose still in hand. Luque's song continued, "_Maybe on the rooftops climbing high. Somewhere just above you love is hovering by. Love is in a rush to smear you, smash you, smush you, love will crush you into mush when you're the bulls-eye, you'll get hit by young love! Your first, your only love. Love so lovely, how can you stand it so..._"

All the while the last part of the song was being sung, the three men in dark clothing were on a balcony above Sílvinnie, safe in hand. They were gonna drop it on her! All this was going on and Sílvinnie was oblivious to it. She looked at the beautiful surroundings and saw the purple butterflies return, merely fluttering by this time. She looked on at all the beauty in bliss. Daisofía called from inside, "Excuse me, Your Grace?" Sílvinnie got up to go inside to see what Daisofía wanted just as the song ended and the safe fell onto the steps! Sílvinnie recoiled quickly, letting out a startled scream.

Daisofía came out to see what made Sílvinnie scream. "Your Highness!" The two girls looked at the safe. Someone had tried to kill the princess! Above, one of the men hit the short one in the head, causing the little man to let out a groan of pain. He fell and the other two realized the noise might attract the attention of the women below, so they hid from view just in time for Sílvinnie and Daisofía to look up at the balcony. They saw no one there, but it was obvious someone had been. The evidence was right there in front of them! Sílvinnie's countenance changed to one of angry determination. She'd make sure her life didn't become so endangered ever again.

Meanwhile, the three men had already made their escape into the underground. They ran down the hallways and stairs of the dungeon-like place. They were arguing all the while. "Who's gonna tell the boss the bad news?" asked Sergio, one of the tall ones.

"Don't look at me, I ain't sayin' nothin,'" said Juan, the other tall one. "You tell him."

"Me?! I told him last time, you silly twit, and I don't believe in doing it twice." Then, just as they were in front of the door to where they had to go, they ran into the short one, Villanueva, and Juan was struck with an idea. "Oy, here's an idea. Shorty, you tell him." He pointed to the door.

Villanueva looked to the door, then looked back to Juan, confused. "Tell him what?" he asked.

"That we... you know, botched the job?" Sergio whispered the last part.

Villanueva gulped. "He's not going to like that," he said nervously. The other two waited behind while he opened the door to the lair of their boss. Their boss, Iván, was sitting in a chair, looking every bit like he was in command... and every bit like he was angry. He glared at the little boy. "Uh, hello there," Villanueva said, walking in further. Iván got up with a struggle, his wooden leg and crutch slowing his progress. He continued nonetheless.

"It don't look good... when only one shows up. Does it, _small fry_?" he emphasized the last two words, making Villanueva all the more intimidated. He closed the door and began pacing around the man.

Outside, the other two were at the door. Juan was listening closely, but he couldn't hear much. "Blimey. I can't hear anything except _step, clop, clop, step, clop, clop,_" he said.

Inside, Iván heard their voices at the door and ceased his pacing. Sergio had been looking at the keyhole then. "Have a gander at monstro's better side," he said with a laugh. Juan shivered at the thought, but went to look anyway, his curiosity getting the better of him. When he looked, he didn't see "the better side," as it were, he saw the bad side. One of Iván's eyes glowed angrily though the keyhole. Iván punched through the door, causing the two to scream, but before they could react further, Iván dragged them through the newly made hole. Once they were in the room, he dropped them and the two immediately stood up beside their smaller compatriot. They looked at each other and, decision made, said their word.

"He has something to tell you, boss," they said in unison, pointing to Villanueva.

"It better be good news," Iván said, his brown eye glowing angrily. The two tall ones backed up and Villanueva was left to give his testimony.

"Well, we did exactly what you said to do and dropped a safe on the princess!" Villanueva said. Iván was smiling in the first half, since it sounded like good news. Minions doing as they're told? Great! The second half sent him into panic though.

"You what?!" he exclaimed. He picked up Villanueva by his hood and said, "I didn't say _drop _a safe, you dolt, I said, '_Keep _her safe'!"

"Well, that's good, 'cause we missed her," said Sergio.

Iván threw down Villanueva. "Now listen, you mutts," he said. He pointed to his eye as he said the first part of: "I've got a plan. And it isn't to kill the princess. It's to kidnap her."

The three bumblers all let out a confused, "Huh?"

"The opera... It's tomorrow night." He said, pointing to a poster. A chorus sang a song at the sight of the poster. It appeared to be a pirate opera, possibly _The Pirates of Penzance. _Iván continued after the short song ended. "The princess has got to be _gone_ by then... or I can't become _king_!"

"_Oh!_" the three bumblers said. They looked to each other, then Villanueva spoke.

"I... don't get it," he said.

Iván slapped his hand on his face, exasperated at dealing with their stupidity. "Lieutenant Nuriabelle!" he called.

Nuriabelle appeared in a flash. "_Oui, oui, mon capitaine. _You _bellowed_?" She asked, pleased to be of service, yet aware of Iván's demanding nature.

"Throw these clowns into _Le Pit_!" Iván said, getting up on his wooden leg and crutch and pointing at the "clowns" as he spoke.

"_Oui, oui, Le Pit!_" Nuriabelle said excitedly.

"No, no," said the three.

"Anything but _Le Pit!_" said Villanueva.

"_Bon voyage, _losers," said Nuriabelle, using a bell with his hand like an alarm before pulling a lever on the wall. The ground beneath the three collapsed from under them and dropped them into a deep, dark pit... that Villanueva could stand up and see out of.

"Oh, not so bad," said Villanueva.

After the dolts were put into the pit, the phone rang. Nuriabelle picked it up and answered it. "_Bonjour, _Iván's secret lair, Nuriabelle speaking," she said. There was a muttering on the end and Nuriabelle recoiled in shock. "The princess?!" She ran to the other side of the room where a big red button was. She punched it with her fist, causing an alarm to blare and a light in the shape of Sílvinnie's head with her crown began to flash. Iván was already having enough of a bad day as it was with having to deal with idiots, now he would have to deal with the wrath of Princess Sílvinnie.

Chapter 4: Bodyguards

Sílvinnie had the most livid expression on her features. This was pure, unbridled incompetence. She had hired Captain Iván to train Musketubers for her protection and today, her life had been threatened... and almost taken. She had more than one word for the overconfident boy.

Musketubers went by her singing, "_All for one all men of honor hear the call. Musketubers sing all for one and one for all._" Sílvinnie exhaled an angry breath. _Well, if nothing else, he's taught them how to sing, _she thought. Daisofía was with her and she too was unhappy at the incident. The princess was more than a royal, she was a friend. This was personal.

"Your Highness! So glad you could grace us with your royal omnipresences!" said Iván, sounding completely like the kiss-up that he was. Sílvinnie and Daisofía just glared at him angrily.

"I want bodyguards!" said Sílvinnie, standing and stomping her foot insistently. Perhaps it was a childish display, but she hadn't the temperament to act civil right now.

"Huh?" Iván asked. His face went from feigned respect to one of confusion. _Why does she need bodyguards? _He thought.

"_Musketuber _bodyguards!" Sílvinnie specified, pointing to the men in uniform. Daisofía didn't back her up in words, but in looks, oh, most verily.

"_Villains, bad guys run in fear when they see the Musketubers. Saving Sílvinnie is our duty. Mess with her we'll kick your-_" The song was interrupted by one Musketuber who made a lethal stab at a dummy with his sword. Aramis _was_ usually the one who went to overkill on things (a fact not proven wrong by this act). It was nonetheless true and Iván got the message loud and clear.

"Ouch," Iván winced. Sílvinnie awaited his response, her expression still angry and determined. "Uh, bodyguards, uh, absolutely! Uh, let me check my schedule here, uh..." He looked at his calendar where he had his plan laid out in red ink. "Kidnap Sílvinnie" was on Tuesday and "Become King" was on Wednesday. Thursday was wide open though. "Oh! How about next Thursday?"

Sílvinnie was not good with this. "How about 10 minutes?! At the palace! Get me bodyguards, Captain Iván!" He was shocked at her demanding voice. He nearly dropped his calendar into the wind. He recovered quickly though. He shoved it back into his coat and groaned. What a fix he was in.

Of course, opportunity finds those in the most opportune times. Gustickey, Davidonald, Goofran, and Pluto were on a platform for cleaning windows. Goofran was on one end and Gustickey and Davidonald were on the other. They were raising it up together, but Goofran was distracted.

"_Pancakes, Cornflakes, Scrambled Eggs, Buttered Toast and Apple Jam. Tonight it's meat, I hope it's Spam,_" sang Goofran. He was terribly hungry and depressed from earlier. Prospects for dinner were rarely good for janitors. Goofran was merely dreaming of the food he _could _have. However, he didn't notice that he was going much faster than Gustickey and Davidonald in raising the platform. It gradually began tipping in the other direction and Gustickey and Davidonald scrambled to keep up.

"Goofran! Slow down!" called Gustickey. Davidonald was yipping in fear. Up and up they went until the platform became vertical and they all fell off. All the while, Iván had been watching in interest. At first, he was amazed at their predicament. There was no one else who got in as much trouble as they did. Yet... seeing them and knowing what they wanted... well, it gave him a plan. Serendipity came to Iván and he was going to take advantage of it.

Sílvinnie and Daisofía still looked angrily at Iván, awaiting a good answer. "Oh, Princess, you're in luck!" he said, putting an arm around Sílvinnie. "Have I got the men for you!" She shrunk away from him, disgusted.

"Well, I hope so! Thanks to _your _incompetence... this whole thing has been a pain in the neck!" She turned away angrily.

"I'll show you a pain in the neck..." Iván said quietly, making to squeeze her neck with his fingers using forced perspective. Sílvinnie turned around harshly, sensing something. Iván stopped just in time and recovered by giving her the "OK" signal with those same fingers.

Meanwhile, Gustickey, Davidonald, Goofran, and Pluto had retreated back to the laundry room. The three had on the glummest expressions possible, their faces were reflected on some bubbles. Gustickey was scrubbing the Musketuber uniforms, Davidonald was rolling them through a press to flatten them, and Goofran was ironing them. Pluto was next to Gustickey, looking as glum as his larger companion.

Gustickey couldn't stand the sad air in the room. He sighed and went over to Davidonald, a smile on his face. "Hey, Davidonald, don't worry about what Captain Iván said. Cheer up... I'm sure there's some way we can become Musketubers," he told Davidonald softly as the boy was doing his part of the laundry.

"We can?" asked Davidonald, hope returning to his face. The two ran over to Goofran, new hope and excitement on their faces. Gustickey jumped onto the ironing block, interrupting Goofran in his work.

"Hey, Goofran, you know we can prove Iván's wrong about us... if we just work hard and stick together," said Gustickey as his tallest friend was ironing the recently-cleaned capes. Goofran looked at Davidonald to see if he felt the same way and, seeing the hope in both of their eyes, a bit of hope returned to him as well.

"You really think so?" Goofran asked to Gustickey.

"Hey, have I ever let you down?" Gustickey began giving the taller man a brotherly noogie as he continued. "Huh? Have I? Have I? Huh? Have I? Have I?"

Goofran laughed at the thought. "No," he said, still laughing a little as Gustickey let up on the noogie.

"Just imagine, guys. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, Captain Iván's going to march in here and say-" said Gustickey. His speech was interrupted by a new voice.

"Congratulations, boys!" The voice said.

Gustickey turned around, looking toward the source. The source happened to be Captain Iván. "Huh?" asked Gustickey.

"You passed the test!" The captain started hobbling into the room as he continued. "I've been watching you three and I'll tell you what: you blokes have got what it takes to be _Musketubers!_" He skittered over to them and shook Gustickey's hand with both hands in congratulations. It looked like it was taking a lot just for him to stay up, but he appeared to be genuinely excited about this.

"Really? You mean it?" Gustickey asked in disbelief.

"Cross my heart," said Captain Iván, making the motion with the hand that wasn't holding his crutch up.

"Oh, boy! Hey, guys, we're going to be Musketubers!" Gustickey excitedly told his friends.

Perhaps it was Gustickey saying it as well that sealed the deal for them, because up until then, they had been staring wide-mouthed in disbelief. Davidonald was the first to roll with it. "Musketubers!" he said excitedly.

"Musketubers!" Goofran said. The excitement was infectious.

In a matter of a few minutes, the three were dressed up in Musketuber garb. This included: a long-sleeved red shirt with a white collar, a blue tunic with the kingdom's yellow symbol on it, white gloves, tan pants, brown boots with gold buckles, and finally, the Musketuber hat. While Gustickey's hat had a blue brim around it, Davidonald and Goofran were given brown cavalier hats with white feathers and a blue brim around it. This was because the design had changed. Captain Iván let Gustickey keep his famous hat that he had since he was a child and he added a red feather (since Gustickey seemed too attached to it to part with it) and he also let Davidonald to wear his white pants, orange knee-socks and his orange shoes rather than the tan pants and brown boots with gold buckles, and in the golden glow in the center of the Musketuber training facility, the three really looked the part of genuine Musketubers.

"I knew we had what it takes!" Gustickey said.

"Yeah, because we're clever," Goofran said.

"And brave!" Davidonald added in.

"And together, we are gonna be great, big heroes! What do you say, men? All for one!" said Gustickey, drawing his sword. Davidonald drew his sword as well.

"And two for tea!" said Goofran as he drew his sword (which came a little too close for comfort to Davidonald). Goofran had Davidonald's hat on the end of his sword and Davidonald had since retreated behind Gustickey for protection. Gustickey jumped; then, when he looked at Iván, the captain was giving a less than impressed look.

"Yeesh," said Iván. The three were almost _too _dunderheaded. He rolled his eyes, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

"Well, we'll work on it," Gustickey said, bringing Goofran and Davidonald close to him with his arms. The three were huddled together like good friends or even brothers.

Then, after the presentation at the Musketuber training hall, it was off to the palace to present them to the princess. Captain Iván led them through the halls on the way to the throne room. "_Hup_, _deux_, _trois_, _quatre_. _Hup_, _deux_, _trois_, _quatre_. _Hup_, _deux_, _trois_, _quatre_," Iván called out as they marched. The procession went in this order: Captain Iván in the lead, Gustickey behind him, Davidonald behind him, Goofran behind him, and Pluto taking up the rear with a small flag tied to his tail. The three Musketubers and their canine friend marched proudly. This was a day of triumph. Iván went on: "_Hup_, _deux_, _trois_, _quatre_. Company, halt!" He stopped in front of a set of golden doors: the doors leading to the throne room. The procession was slow to obey the command since a few of them ran into each other. Once Iván was sure they had stopped, he said, "Stay here whilst I go schmooze Princess What's-Her-Name." He had a look of self-importance as he said this. Then, without saying more, he opened the door, hopped in, and closed it quickly and loudly behind him.

They all recoiled at the slam. Gustickey was the first to recover. He looked up at the great doors in wonder. "Wow. This is it, guys. This is what we've been waiting for all our lives. Now, when these doors open, we've gotta make a great first impression," he said. Davidonald smiled and stood up tall and proud. Goofran smoothed back his unruly hair and put it under his hat to keep it in order. Satisfied that his friends got the idea, Gustickey continued, "Ok. Remember, fellas, we're on duty and this place could be _crawling _with bad guys!" He emphasized his point by wiggling his fingers in spider-like motions.

"Bad guys?!" Davidonald exclaimed, terror in him.

"So, stay alert!" Gustickey said authoritatively.

"You heard him. Stay alert!" Davidonald said to Goofran.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Goofran said, saluting. He then immediately went into search mode. He narrowed his eyes and put a hand over his eyes, scanning the surroundings with wary eyes. Then, not a minute after his search began, he came face-to-face with an armored soldier! "Bad guy! No! Whoa!" The soldier was huge and wielded an axe!

"Goofran!" Gustickey and Davidonald scrambled to help their friend. Goofran was already in a tussle with the "bad guy." When the smoke cleared, the armor was in pieces and there was no bad guy in sight. No one could tell Goofran that though.

"Gosh. He pulled an axe on me!" Goofran said worriedly as he drew the axe from the pile. Gustickey and Davidonald both reared back, startled. Something had to be done about this.

Meanwhile, Captain Iván was in the throne room, beginning his schmoozing. "Your Royal Highness, I have never, ever had... a more highly skilled group of gentlemen... than the individuals which I present to you today," Iván began. Princess Sílvinnie sat on her throne, looking bored out of her mind. Daisofía had since walked up to her and the two exchanged looks between each other.

Daisofía knew just what to do in this situation: "Seems like this is gonna take a while. I'll go get you a little snack," she said. Sílvinnie almost envied Daisofía. She got to leave while she had to stay there and listen to the droning of the captain. Sílvinnie's royal robe extended to the ground like a train.

Iván went on: "It took my highly trained eye to see their full potential." Indeed, he had right to say that with only one eye to speak of.

"Yes, well, France thanks you and your eye very much," Princess Sílvinnie said. It was normal procedure to say this. Everything done on behalf of the princess was done on behalf of the people.

"Well, then it is without further ado... that I present for your complete safety... _and _protection, your Musketubers!" Iván said, waving a hand toward the door. The doors were opened by the attendants. Behind the doors, Goofran and Davidonald were still struggling with the armor. When they noticed the doors had opened, they froze, not knowing what to do. They might as well have been caught raiding the cookie jar with the expressions they were giving. Iván was quick to indicate to them what to do since the Princess appeared more confused than impressed. Iván made a salute and Goofran and Davidonald were quick to react by standing up straight and saluting. Gustickey had, in the meanwhile, been behind the pile of armor and had been unseen until Goofran and Davidonald stopped struggling with the armor and it collapsed at their feet. He had noticed his friends saluting, so by the time the armor fell, he was saluting too.

When the armor fell and Princess Sílvinnie saw Gustickey... she felt a stirring in her heart and her mind started to go elsewhere. In her mind, he noticed her too (and perhaps he actually had, but she was already too into her fantasy to notice if that was the case). In her fantasy, it was just them in a clearing in the clouds. They became weightless and Sílvinnie heard her voice repeating what she had said she was looking for in a guy. "_Just imagine: He'll stride into the room._" Gustickey made a bouncing stride or two forward (the bouncing was due to the weightlessness). He took off his hat in respect. "_Light will glow from him._" Light glowed around Gustickey and he marveled at it. "_I'll hear music._" A musical scale surrounded Gustickey playfully before going off as soon as it had come. "_He'll bring me flowers._" Flowers appeared magically in Gustickey's hand. The two were floating level to each other. They came toward each other. Just as they came close, the pink roses turned into pink butterflies and flew away. They both marveled at that. He took her hands and spun her around as Sílvinnie heard her words: "_And he'll sweep me off my feet... and I'll know he's the one when he makes me laugh._" As they spun around, Gustickey spoke, but it wasn't his voice coming out of his mouth.

"Your majesty," Gustickey said in a different voice. His head turned into Daisofía's head. "It's time to cut the cheese." The fantasy was effectively over and ruined.

"Huh? What?" Sílvinnie had the most distraught look on her face. It was such a good fantasy... and now it was gone! Gone!

Daisofía continued, "Here we are!" She pulled the lid off of a serving dish. On the tray was grapes and cheese. "Roquefort, anyone?" she asked, referring to the cheese. Of course... along with the cheese and the grapes was a cutting knife. It was meant for the cheese, but the three Musketubers took this differently.

"Knife!" Goofran exclaimed.

"Bad guy!" Davidonald shouted.

"Grab her!" Gustickey called.

Daisofía looked at them, knowing she was in trouble. "Oh, no," she said meekly. That was all she got to say before the three tackled her and a cloud of dust formed around the tussle. It was chaos! Daisofía screamed in terror.

"Oh! Unhand her! Release her! Stop it!" Princess Sílvinnie rose to the step of her throne. She was horrified at the display. Thankfully, the three understood "stop" better than "halt." Daisofía was held in the air, the knife in one hand and upside down. The knife hand was restrained by Gustickey, the other hand by Davidonald, and one of her feet was being held by Goofran. Daisofía's dress drooped, revealing her undergarments. "Drop her!" ordered Sílvinnie. The three quickly dropped her and turned their backs on her, trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Daisofía fell to a heap on the floor. "_She_ is my _lady_ in _waiting_!" Sílvinnie said, outraged.

Pluto, who had taken refuge behind a pillar during the tussle, face-palmed. It was all Iván could do to keep in his laughter. He had a hand covering his mouth, trying to keep it closed as small sounds leaked out. It was obvious he was stifling a laugh... and Sílvinnie was not amused. She turned harshly on him, making him stop quickly. He cleared his throat and began explaining, "You'll have to forgive them, Your Highness. They're like a well-oiled machine that's wound just a little too tight." Sílvinnie was calmed a little, and even considering the explanation.

Gustickey took off his hat respectfully and said, "We're sorry, Your Grace, we thought she was a villain." Daisofía had since gotten up and looked a little ruffled, but overall fine. Davidonald wiggled his eyebrows and tipped his hat at her, trying to use his charms to help ease the tension. He smiled showing all his teeth.

Daisofía scoffed. "I don't think so," she said, crossing her arms and turning her back on the boy. Davidonald looked a little offended his trick hadn't worked. It usually always worked!

"Oh! I see. Well, then... I feel safer already," said Sílvinnie as she got off her throne and came closer to the three. It was clear they had met her approval. Iván smiled. The plan had worked. It would be much easier for him to become king now. Those three were an accident waiting to happen. How could they possibly protect the princess well enough to stop him?

Chapter 5: A Remote Tower

Iván made his way back to the training hall with more than a spring in his step. He was practically skipping along (as best as he could with one leg anyway). As he crossed the bridge on the path between the palace and the Musketuber training hall, he passed by Luque the Troubadour. The boy was sitting on the railing on the bridge, but he immediately hid behind the bridge as he was grabbing hold of the railing when he saw Iván passing by. Iván's bottom swished about and smacked the ground in frantic with his fat leg.

"Oh no," said Luque got over the bridge again as he sat on it. He said, "When the bad guy is that happy, it always, always means..." he pulled out a sousaphone from his pocket, propped it on his shoulders, and finished his sentence with: "Bad-guy song!" He put the mouthpiece on the instrument and blew a few deep, foreboding notes. The song began just as Iván made his way into his office.

"_I was born to cheat and lie. I'm a mean, rotten guy! When you ask me why I'm nasty, here's my reason why..._" He pointed to an intimidating picture of an obese woman, who was ugly as him. It was his mother. "_At that stork delivery, Mommy screamed: 'Woe is me! Such a dork! Hey, Mr. Stork, behold my misery! Iván's ghastly, Iván's a blob! Iván's a nasty, naughty slob!' Can it, sister. I'm the mister who will get the job!_" He had taken a ride down a secret chute into an underground tunnel system. The tunnel (beneath his chair) closed at the top as soon as he closed his end. Leaving his self-obsessed office behind, he continued on his way as the music continued.

Iván made his way to an old rail system. It used to transport coal. Now, it was a transport to an entirely different place. As he went down the rails in the old coal car, he continued, "_So, I'm nasty, I'm no good, I'll be king! Knock on wood. I'll impress ya though I'm just a common, lowly hood! If you can't be loved, be feared. Don't get shoved, sheep get sheared. Be the king, pull the strings or else you might get smeared!_" At this point, the rail ended at a stop block. The car harshly hit it, sending the boy flying to a basket. This basket was attached to a pulley system. As he went down, the counterweight (a basket with bricks in it) went up.

Iván went on, "_I'm so happy I could dance, seize my chance, I'll advance! Come and cheer me, love and fear me, Ivy's King of France!_" He hit the bottom softly and safely. He held onto the rope and handed his hat to his assistant. She eagerly grabbed for it as he said, "Evening, trusted lieutenant, watch out for the bricks." It was true, as soon as he let go, the bricks were coming down with full force.

"What?" asked Nuriabelle. She hadn't paid attention enough to what he was saying. This was to a deficit to her, especially since the basket of bricks fell on her head.

The song went on, "_Come and cheer me, love and fear me, Ivy's King of France!_" He kept the last note going even as the music ended... and this didn't go unnoticed. "Why'd the music stop?" Iván asked, mood broken. His Musketuber captain clothes were changed for his bad guy clothes (which were not very flattering, even for him).

Meanwhile, in "_Le Pit_," the three goons were trying to ease their boredom. Villanueva was drawing in the clay with a stick, Sergio was playing jacks, and Juan was reading a book on what appeared to be a TV manual. As it happened, the picture Villanueva had drawn resembled Iván (and not in a flattering way). Iván came to the edge of the pit and looked in.

"Hello, boys," said Iván, his tone angry and sinister. It almost had a hint of amusement in it, but his expression betrayed otherwise. Once the three saw him, they each made haste to hide their slothful activities. Villanueva scribbled his crude drawing away, Sergio thrust the jacks into his mouth, and Juan blew his nose with the book and stuffed it in his jacket for later. Iván rolled his eyes and leaned down close to them as best as he could without falling in. "Think you might have some spare time... to go and snatch the princess?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think," said Villanueva, holding up a watch as he said this.

"Well, quit thinking and do it! The opera's tomorrow night!" Iván said. Everyone looked to the poster on the other wall and the mysterious choir sung again. This time, Iván seemed vaguely aware of the singers. He blinked in confusion before continuing his line of conversation. "The job must be done by then, remember?" He steamed.

"How can we help?" Villanueva asked.

Iván rolled his eyes. _Oh, the imbecility I must deal with... _He thought. He spoke slowly and clearly. "I want you to grab her, find a remote tower somewhere... and lock her away forever... so that no one may ever find her again! You got me, dingbats?"

"Sure thing, boss," they all said, saluting Iván before climbing out of the pit and heading on their way.

Meanwhile, Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran were on a carriage. Gustickey and Davidonald were standing in the back and Goofran was driving, the reins for the horses in one hand and a book in the other. It was a guide to musketeering for the complete and hyperactive idiots. It was a beautiful day for a carriage ride. Gustickey took a deep breath of the sweet air. "Isn't this musketeering stuff great?" he asked Davidonald.

"You bet!" said Davidonald.

In the carriage was none other than the princess herself: Sílvinnie. Her lady-in-waiting, Daisofía, was with her. "Isn't it romantic, Daisofía... being protected by three dashing Musketubers?" She giggled childishly. "And the little one is _so _handsome."

The two girls were enjoying some fast food. Sílvinnie had some fries along with some soda and Daisofía was having a burger and soda as well. It was a fairly good deal, especially considering the fact that they were traveling.

Daisofía said, "Yeah... he's kind of cute and all... but you're forgetting something. They're Musketubers. Commoners. Non-college bound. You know what that means." Sílvinnie had been trying to get a good sip after it began crawling up her arm, but she suddenly stopped short, tongue still sticking out.

"Our love is... _forbidden?_" Sílvinnie asked.

Daisofía took a sip as well, a bit harshly before saying, "Bingo."

"A forbidden love! How romantic..." Sílvinnie had that dreamy expression on her face before finally catching the straw in her fingers and sucking on it. As she sucked on it, she never lost that same dreamy expression.

As the carriage went down the road, the three Musketubers failed to notice the three bad guys in the tree. They stood on a limb and, when the carriage was beneath them, they jumped onto it, swords drawn. Chaos ensued from there.

"Bad guys!" Gustickey said.

"Bad guys!" Davidonald said.

"Bad guys?" Goofran asked. He hadn't seen anything. He was too distracted with his reading. The horses, however, got the point. They reared up with a whinnying and off they ran.

Sergio made a slice for the two Musketubers at the back. "Yikes!" Gustickey said. Davidonald just shook violently and turned into a chicken again and began to stutter again along some cackling again like when Iván told him he was a stuttering coward. He rushed inside the carriage, to protection. This surprised the girls, but back outside, Gustickey was taking action. He stood atop the carriage and said, "Ok, you. _En garde__!_" He drew his sword.

"_En garde? _French words make me mad!" He made slices at Gustickey's sword (a somewhat inferior sword since it broke apart with each slice). When Gustickey had no sword left, the bad guy sliced at his clothing. It fell apart, revealing nothing but a long, black T-shirt with high neck, red knee-long trousers with white buttons, his white and big gloves, black knee-socks and big yellow shoes. Gustickey looked at him and then at his own outfit, it was at that moment when he made a childish laugh and shrugged, a signature move (albeit out of context).

On the carriage went. Sílvinnie and Daisofía were inside, both trying to push the boy, Davidonald, back outside to fight. They pushed from either side of his body, all the while, Daisofía said, "Get out there and fight, you stuttering coward!"

Back outside, Juan and Villanueva joined Goofran in the driver's seat (Juan at Goofran's left and Villanueva at his right) as they passed by a sign that indicated that a mud pond was ¼ mile away. "You fellas seen any bad guys around here?" Goofran asked, completely oblivious.

"Oh? How about _this _bad guy?" Juan asked, taking out a jack-in-the-box and winding the crank. As the beautiful music played, Goofran became entranced and got closer to it. Soon, however, a boxing glove contraption popped out of the box. It punched Goofran off of the carriage and sent him tumbling down the hill.

"Goofran!" Gustickey called out desperately.

"Hit the road, tiny!" Sergio said, shoving Gustickey into a suitcase and tossing him overboard.

"Gustickey!" Davidonald called out. He had since come back outside and was now behind Sergio. The bad guy turned around and looked at the boy with an evil glint in his eye. Davidonald drew his sword, but was very skittish in his approach.

"Boo!" said Sergio, scaring Davidonald. It scared the little guy so much that he put _himself_ in a suitcase and launched _himself_ overboard. Sergio watched, amazed. _Well, that was easy, _he thought.

The three Musketubers landed in a mud pond. The fall down the hill had beat them up pretty badly and now dirt was getting into the wounds. Poor Goofran was unfortunate enough to fall in first. (Unfortunate since Gustickey and Davidonald fell on his head.)

"Princess!" Gustickey called out. The bad guys had made off with the carriage carrying the princess. Despite the fall and how sore and bloodied he was, he rushed up the slippery slope. He was able to get purchase with his hands on the edge. He looked on as the carriage went away into the distance. His expression drooped and so did he. He slipped back down the slope into the mud pond. He removed his hat just in time for the mud from the slope to slide onto him. Goofran and Davidonald looked on at him, both were muddied, bloodied, and, seeing how glum their friend was, were glum as well. They had taken a good beating. Gustickey sighed, "Now how are we gonna protect the princess?"

"Protect the princess? Are you kidding?" Davidonald put a hand up and wiped away most of the mud from his face as he said, "It's hopeless. We failed!"

"Hopeless? _Failed?_" Goofran grabbed his tunic, his face going soft with emotion. Davidonald looked at him, regretting what he said since Goofran soon burst into tears. Goofran grabbed Davidonald, trying to get comfort by hugging the boy. Goofran soon put him down though.

"Aw, there, there, pal_. _Here. Blow," Davidonald said, offering Goofran his own tunic as a hankie. Goofran looked at his tunic and did not hesitate to blow.

Gustickey still sat in the mud for a moment, but soon regained a look of determination. He slapped his hat back on and said, "Well, I don't think we're hopeless!" He got up and went over to his friends. Goofran sat on a rock and Davidonald stood by his side. Gustickey went on, "Listen, Captain Iván has faith in us."

"He does?" Goofran asked. Then, "Oh, I mean _he does!_" Goofran stood, confidence back in his expression and tears long gone.

"Iván made us Musketubers, remember?" Gustickey asked to Davidonald.

"Yeah! We're Musketubers!" Davidonald said.

"That's right! Just like we dreamed when we were kids!" Gustickey made his way up a rock and out of the mud pond. He went back to the edge and offered his hand to his friends. "So, what do you say? Are we a team?"

"Count me in, Gustickey!" Goofran said, slapping his hand into Gustickey's. With the little bit of support Gustickey gave and some help from the rock, Goofran was soon out and beside his friend. Davidonald was at the edge of the pond too.

"Me too! Me too!" Davidonald said as he was helped up. The three were on solid ground again.

"We're off to save the princess!" Gustickey said happily. He drew his sword (he managed to find an extra that had fallen off of one of the bad guys during the tussle). "No obstacle too big!"

"Yeah!" Goofran said, drawing his as well.

"No danger too great!" Gustickey said.

"You said it!" Davidonald said, drawing his sword as well.

"Together we'll save the princess or die trying!" said Gustickey. He and Goofran ran off, mission in mind. Davidonald, however, was hesitant.

"Die?" He asked. Gustickey and Goofran came back and dragged him along. "Die?" The word just... didn't settle well with Davidonald. They had just barely gotten out of the scuffle with the bad guys alive, now they were going back into danger to possibly _die_? No way.

Chapter 6: I Got An Idea

The three Musketubers made their way down the road, following the tracks of the carriage toward a remote tower near a river. They crossed the bridge, careful to avoid falling over the waterfall on the right side of the bridge. When they got to the tower, Gustickey and Davidonald set to trying to get the door open. They both pulled hard on the door, but it simply wouldn't budge.

"Hey, Goofran! This door won't budge!" Gustickey said. He figured calling Goofran over to help would be good since the man was stronger than the two of them.

"Let me give it a go!" Goofran made a running start toward the door, heading toward it at full speed (which was unrealistically fast).

As Goofran was making his approach to charge the door, Gustickey noticed the sign on the door "Push." Gustickey pushed it slightly and it opened easily. "Hey, Goofran, wait! I got... WHOA!" Gustickey had tried to tell Goofran that the door was open, but Goofran continued through the door, into the tower, and up the steps at high-speed.

On his way, he passed the bad guys and their captives. They saw nothing but a trail of dust and felt nothing but the wind flowing past them. They didn't know what it was. "What the heck was that?" Villanueva asked. The others were thinking the same thing.

Meanwhile, Goofran continued his ascent until he crashed through the window on the top floor. He fell through the air and got caught on a tree branch growing out of a cliff. The tree flung him back up to a cow. The cow wasn't very happy at being collided with, especially from behind. The cow, in a fit of anger, kicked Goofran square in the butt. This propelled Goofran through the air once more and toward a windmill. He spun around on the spokes until he spun out into another direction. He went back through the tower window and began rolling his way down the stairs. It was hard to stop, which resulted in him landing on the bottom in a bloody, dazed heap. When he had passed the bad guys, they just looked on, amazed at what the man was able to go through.

Goofran was helped to his feet by a worried Gustickey and Davidonald. "Door's open," Goofran said in a daze.

Back on the tower stairs, the bad guys talked to each other about what they had seen. It was obvious the Musketubers were near. "Oy, what we do about them Musketubers?" Juan asked, the one with the girls slung over his shoulder.

"We're 87 floor up. It'll be hours before they get here," Sergio said. Boy, was he wrong. Hurried footsteps were heard behind them and there were the Musketubers. They were panting and on their knees on the steps, but they still looked determined as ever to get the job done.

"Hold it right... there... you fiends!" Gustickey said, panting hard all the while.

"Sling those birds into their cage," Sergio said to Juan. The man addressed threw the tied up girls into a cage up above them. The door shut on them and they screamed in fear.

"Your Highness!" Gustickey said.

"Let's have a little fun with these blighters, shall we?" Sergio asked to his crew.

"Let's get 'em!" Gustickey said to his men. They charged at the bad guys and a sword fight began. Juan fought Goofran, Villanueva fought Davidonald, and Sergio fought Gustickey.

"Stop! Let the girlsgo!" Davidonald said, directing his sword at his opponent.

Villanueva looked almost intimidated, but then he drew a _bigger _sword from his cloak. With it, he cut at Davidonald's sword. Davidonald's sword peeled down like a banana and Villanueva laughed. "Do you feel lucky, big boy?" Davidonald was far from a big boy at this point. He was a real chicken now. He ran off, away from the danger, after stuttering and cackling a bit.

Juan and Goofran's fight was going well... up until one particular part. "Ooh! Is that Haley's comet?" Juan asked, pointing in another direction.

Goofran looked in the direction pointed at and asked, "Haley's comet! Where?" While his back was turned, Juan gained the advantage and shoved Goofran's hat onto his head, blinding him. Goofran stumbled down the stairs. All the while, the girls had been watching and... their hopes of rescue were severely dwindling.

Sergio had a hand stopping Gustickey from getting too close. It wasn't hard to keep the smaller opponent away from him. "Let me go! Let me go! I'll slice you to ribbons! What the..." As if that was incentive for the man to let up. As Gustickey slashed his sword, trying to make purchase, Goofran came up behind him and collided with him. Gustickey dropped his sword and watched as it twirled down 87 floors. "My sword!"

When he looked back up and Goofran had managed to pull his hat away from his face and back onto his head where it belonged, they noticed they were right between the bad guys and the stairs leading further up. The bad guys laughed evilly. They directed the two further up the steps at sword point.

"Goofran, we have to do something quick... or the princess is done for," Gustickey said quietly.

"It's all over," Juan said.

"Looks like you blokes got in over your heads," Sergio said. Speaking of over heads, Goofran noticed the shattered glass window behind the bad guys. It was the same window he had crashed through earlier. The wheels in his brain turned, going over the event in his mind. After a bit of thinking, his face lit up with his plan.

"What are you planning, Goofran?" Gustickey asked.

"I got an idea. Are you with me?" Goofran asked conspiratorially.

"You bet," Gustickey replied.

Goofran quickly grabbed Gustickey in his arms and said, "Hot soup! Coming through!" He jumped out the window with Gustickey.

"That was a bit of a barney, wasn't it?" Juan asked as the three looked out the window the two had jumped through. Gustickey and Goofran went around in the same way Goofran had before when trying to get the door open. This time, when they came back through the window, it had better results. Before the bad guys could even react, they were kicked with great force out the other window and into the river below. The bad guys were gone but, as before, Goofran and Gustickey rolled down the steps. On their way down, they hit the cage and the door to it flew open. Now, the two Musketubers were rolling down the stairs with the still tied-up princess and lady-in-waiting. On their way further down, they passed another cage... one in which Davidonald was hiding. They didn't notice him, so the boy breathed a small sigh of relief.

Gustickey, Goofran, Sílvinnie, and Daisofía landed in a dazed heap at the bottom. Goofran shook his head free of the stars and asked, "Did we do it?"

"Yeah! We did it! The three of us did it!" Gustickey said, getting to his feet excitedly.

"All for one and-" The two started together, but Gustickey noticed something.

"Wait. Where's Davidonald?" Gustickey asked.

Davidonald had heard this and said, "We did it?! Well, all right!" As he said this, he tumbled out of the cage and down the steps. It was as if he had been there all along. He stood up beside his friends and went, "Hurray! We did it!" He feigned his excitement, trying to hide the fact he didn't do anything to help. The three celebrated for a moment before a curt "Ahem" was uttered by Daisofía. The princess and lady-in-waiting were still tied in rope.

Gustickey laughed nervously and helped the princess to her feet. "Let me just, uh... kinda tight..." He reached toward the knot and pulled slightly on it, causing it to spring apart. "Whoa!" The rope fell about the two like spaghetti. Gustickey was on the ground, covered in rope and looked bashfully ashamed when he said, "Oops." Sílvinnie was struck by how adorable he looked right then and giggled at the display. He stood up and the two looked for all the world like there was something between them.

"Aw, Gustickey made her laugh, so she knew he was the one. Will their love bloom on the way back to Paris? Perhaps if I sing them a song," said Luque. He had been watching all this happen from afar (as all narrators do) and sat at a piano to play a song. "_Afloat on the breeze,_" sang Luque.

"_On wings of love,_" some purple butterflies sang in accompaniment.

"_Like birds and like bees,_" Luque sang.

"_Sweet wings of love,_" the purple butterflies sang.

"_The first day we met._" As the song went on, Gustickey and Sílvinnie went around, doing romantic things. At this point, they walked together down a country road.

"_On wings of love._"

"_We watched the sun set._" Gustickey and Sílvinnie ran up to a wagon carrying hay.

"_Sweet wings of love._"

"_And if by some chance._" Gustickey put Sílvinnie on the back of the wagon and he ran to catch up. Sílvinnie, concerned, put out her hand to help him.

"_Some twist of fate._"

"_We're chasing romance._" Gustickey caught her hand and came aboard the wagon with her.

"_It's not too late._"

"_It's heaven's design, you'll be mine. Hands entwined on wings of love._" The two found themselves holding hands.

"_Of love._" The wagon hit a bump and brought hay down on the two. Neither seemed to mind. Sílvinnie actually giggled at it.

"_A real-life fairy tale._" Later, the two were on a boat and making their way down the river. Gustickey stretched his arms and wrapped one of them around Sílvinnie. She leaned in to his hold. It was beautiful in Paris tonight.

"_Fairy tale._"

"_Down the streams of life we sail._"

"_Life we sail._"

"_And our world in twilight gleams._"

"_Twilight gleams._"

"_Like the light in your eyes inside my dreams. Your whisper lightly tickling my ear. It's Paris, ah, in the spring._" The two were making their way through the maze of the palace gardens. There were places Gustickey took her to that even she was unaware of. It was nice.

"_Spring, spring, spring, spring._"

"_I feel so giddy, one thing is clear: you stir my heart to sing._"

"_Ah, ah, ah._"

"_Don't take your hand from mine._" The two were at the palace steps. That was where the two had to part. Their hands lingered a moment before parting slowly.

"_Hand from mine._"

"_Just hold tight until you find. You're the light I'm dreaming of._" Gustickey looked at Sílvinnie with feigned happiness. He had to say goodnight, but he didn't want to.

"_Dreaming of._"

"_And I'm waiting for you on wings of love._" Sílvinnie came toward him, removed his hat, and kissed him behind the cover of the hat. Gustickey was shocked at first, but after the initial shock came the warming effect of love. He smiled despite the lipstick stain on his face and glasses.

"_Bonne nuit,_" Sílvinnie said, throwing Gustickey's hat back to him. It landed on his head and, when it did, he collapsed to the ground in bliss.

"_Ah,_" the purple butterflies sighed.

"_Waiting for you on wings..._" Luque sang.

"_Lovely little wings._"

"... _Of love._"

"_On wings of love._"

As the music came to an end, Luque said, "Ah, young love." He laughed to himself knowingly.

Meanwhile, Iván was having a problem. He burst into his lair and shouted, "I got a problem! Those three chowderheads have proved tougher than I thought!" His three henchmen were hung across a clothesline and pinned there by clothespins on their cloaks. Nuriabelle had hung them there and it looked like a fairly efficient way to get them dry.

"Yeah? So?" Villanueva asked, who hung quite a ways off the ground.

"So quit hanging around!" Iván struck Villanueva on the line, causing him to sway. "We have to change the plans, see? Now we're gonna have to pull the ol' switcheroo tomorrow night..." He un-clipped the man from the wire and he collapsed to the ground. "At the opera!" The poster on the wall was looked at again since the choir began singing again. When it finished, Iván had been scowling, but turned it into a smile of sorts. "That little ditty is starting to grow on me." The three henchmen looked at each other, perplexed.

Iván went on, "Now, listen. To get to the princess, we're gonna have to pick those guys off one... by... one."

Chapter 7: Plan B

Sílvinnie and Daisofía were in pajamas and talking about things while getting ready for bed. Daisofía brushed Sílvinnie's hair as Sílvinnie doodled in a journal, she was drawing herself and Gustickey as a king along two little boys and two little girls that resembled them as if they were their children and behind them, there were two hearts with an arrow crossing by them and a butterfly flying over them. She sighed happily, "Gustickey and Sílvinnie Mouse... why, Daisofía, Gustickey and I have the same last name!"

"Well, it must be destiny then. It's a good thing destiny doesn't control my love life," Daisofía said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at me. If it did... I'd get stuck with Mister..." Suddenly, she began to mimic Davidonald and both girls began to laugh.

Meanwhile, Goofran was at his post, doing patrol. "Two, three... four. Two, three... four," He said to himself, counting his steps. He wasn't the best at the French language, so English was his next best bet. His lanky form did nothing to make the patrol look serious though. On the contrary, it was almost comical to see the man with his long legs and feet making steps back and forth across the area. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud creak as a door opened down the hall. A light shone from the room and Goofran got his sword pointed to the target and at the ready. "Bad guys..."

A silhouette that looked vaguely like Gustickey showed up on the door. "Attention, Musketuber Goofran!" Said a voice with a poor impression of Gustickey.

"Gustickey, is that you?" Goofran asked.

"Yes, Musketuber Goofran. I am in need of your asistance"

"You sure are talking funny."

"Oh, I was just eating escargot and peanut butter." The voice laughed it off.

"Hey, save some for me!" Goofran let his sword clatter to the ground as he went in the direction of the shadow. The silhouette kept disappearing and reappearing further and further away from Goofran's post.

"Over here!" It said one time. Another time, it said, "Follow me, Goofran!" Goofran was so convinced it was the real Gustickey that he followed it. The voice led to a dark alley where a certain Nuriabelle was waiting and laughing evily.

"Gustickey!"

"You're almost there!"

"Gustickey! Doggone! Where'd he go now? Gustickey! Gustickey!" The lights in the alley dimmed as a sinister silhouette appeared and Goofran knew he was in for trouble. "Uh oh," he said as the lights went out.

Back at the castle, Davidonald was at his post. His constant shivering making his steps uneven, making the sword in his hand quiver worse than it should have been (especially considering the fear in his body). "Loli, two, three, four. Loli, two, three... Loli!" The boy yelped. He had backed into something and thought it was a bad guy. He slashed the thing with his sword with all his might. When he finally took a good look at it, he saw that it was a plant and his sword had carved it into the shape of him when he was in fear. "Hello, handsome," He said, starting a small talk with the plant. He was comforted, for a moment, to finally have a friend among the moonlit and dark surroundings.

Then, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and saw three masked figures appear around the corner. The crude masks matched Iván's face with an angry expression. Davidonald was confused at the random strangers. "What the...?" He asked.

"Booga booga! Booga booga!" they all said together as they moved back and forth "menacingly". The small one kept saying the word for a little longer than the other two did, possibly out of enthusiasm. When the little one finally stopped, he almost sounded embarrassed.

"Beat it, you guys," Davidonald said, batting a hand, annoyed.

The three were surprised at Davidonald's sudden courage. "I told you twits these Iván masks wouldn't work! Let's go to Plan B," said one of the tall ones. They took off their masks.

"Hey, you're the bad guys! Don't move!" Davidonald aimed his sword at the trio. Though shocked, the three immediately recovered by pulling out nine times the weaponry Davidonald had. He let out the most terrified yelping as he threw his hat and sword on the plant, threw it their way, and ran out of the palace but not before bumping himself six times into the pillars because his blue tunic got over his face. He ran so fast, a cloud of dust collected behind him. He finally found an empty barrel to hide in and did so. With the lid sealed, he hoped he was safe... but he wasn't. The three bad guys had followed him and, as he heard their laughter outside, he felt the barrel being rolled roughly along.

All the tossing around left him a little dazed when the lid of the barrel finally opened. He squinted in the light beyond. The bad guys poked their heads in, scaring the living daylights out of Davidonald, so he broke the bottom end of the barrel to try and escape. However, he wasn't watching where he was going, so he fell into a guillotine and couldn't get his head out. As he struggled, he tried to get calm. "What's going on here?" He asked. Then, upon looking around, he noticed a painting on the wall of Princess Sílvinnie in a cage with Captain Iván on the outside in kingly garb that was named _'My Nefarious Plan'_, laughing at the poor girl's fate. Davidonald didn't like that, but when he looked to another wall, he saw something worse... he noticed three tombstones, all with the shapes of he and his friends' skulls. Then came the sound of evil laughter as a shadow appeared over Davidonald. He looked up and noticed it was... "Captain Iván!" Davidonald asked, horrified.

"I'm in such a good mood," said Captain Iván before he pulled a lever, dropping the guillotine blade. Davidonald panicked and (as impossible at first glance as it was) finally got his head through out of the guillotine. He ran off and Iván, as foolish as he was, went through the same hole to try to retrieve the boy.

"Come back here, you four-eyed stutterer!" Iván called out as he made his way through. Unfortunately, as he was making his way through, his wooden leg wasn't able to make it and got chopped off by the guillotine blade. He fell over and shed a few _manly _tears over the second loss of one quarter of his body.

Back at the palace, Pluto was skittering down the hall, making his barking noises all the way. He was urgently looking for Gustickey. When he found Gustickey, the boy cried out, "Pluto! Pluto, slow down, boy, what is it?" Pluto bit to Gustickey's tunic and dragged him away. He took Gustickey to where Goofran was supposed to be. "Hey, where's Goofran?" Pluto barked sadly with meaning. "Davidonald," Gustickey said in realization. He went over to where Davidonald was supposed to be, but found nothing but the plant with Davidonald's hat and sword still in place. "Something strange is going on here."

After he said that, both Pluto and Gustickey heard an insistent "_Psst, psst_," coming from one of the suits of armor.

"Who's there?" Gustickey asked. "You better come out of there or I'm coming in after you!" His voice didn't convey the amount of strength and bravery he had originally intended. Despite his fear, he was ready for anything. The armor opened and the little shaky form of Davidonald came out, looking shakier than normal. "Davidonald? What's the big idea?! Come down from there!" Davidonald did and Gustickey asked, "Why aren't you at your post?"

"We got to get Goofran and get out of here!" Davidonald said, grabbing Gustickey's tunic in urgency.

"Goofran? Where is he? He isn't at his post either."

"Oh, no! He's already got Goofran!" Davidonald grabbed Gustickey and tried to drag him away, but Gustickey needed answers.

"Wait, who's got Goofran? Davidonald... stop!" Gustickey broke free of Davidonald's grasp. "Davidonald, are you nuts? What's going on?"

"Iván is going to kidnap Princess Sílvinnie... so that he can become king because he's really a bad guy... and he has a secret lair and it's really dark and scary! So, the point is... he's gonna kill us if we get in his way! So we should run now as far away as we can!" Davidonald's fast-speaking and small stuttering didn't sound very close to English when he said this. It was worse than normal, so Gustickey and Pluto gave him blank stares. Pluto, at Gustickey's right, looked at Gustickey and Gustickey looked back as the dog's tail lowered down. Once they saw that neither of them knew, Gustickey had to say it.

"Davidonald, I can't understand a word you say."

"_NO!_" Davidonald was too exasperated to repeat it and too scared to stay. He scooped Gustickey up and began running.

"Put me down! Whoa! We can't leave our posts like this! What would Captain Iván say?"

"_Captain Iván is the bad guy!_" Davidonald said, as clearly as he could.

"Captain Iván is the bad guy?" Gustickey repeated, sure that he heard the words, but not believing them. On his first chance, he grabbed onto something that could pull him away from Davidonald's grasp. The thing happened to be a statue on one of the exits of the palace. Davidonald stopped, noticing Gustickey was no longer in his grasp.

"Iván's trying to kidnap the princess?" Gustickey asked after re-thinking the words Davidonald had said earlier.

"Exactly!" Davidonald said, glad to finally have gotten his point across.

"But... but he made us Musketubers."

"It was all a lie!"

"A lie?" Gustickey was a little heartbroken, but he knew where his duty lied. "Well, lie or no lie, Musketubers don't run from danger and, as long as we wear these uniforms, neither do we!"

"You said it!" Davidonald tore off his Musketuber clothes, leaving only another surprising outfit like when Gustickey got his tore off at the battle over the carriage. Davidonald wore a blue sailor suit with a couple of white buttons and white lining around the collar and at the end of the sleeves, a black bow tie, white pants, orange knee-socks and orange shoes. At that moment, he took off a a blue hat with both black tassel and brim from one of his pockets. "It's every man for himself!" He started running off with two suitcases, but Gustickey's voice stopped him.

"Davidonald, wait! Together, we can stop Captain Iván! Remember how we rescued the princess?"

Davidonald faltered. It was truth time... and he had hoped to have a few years before he revealed the secret. "I, uh... I was hiding," he said, ashamed.

"Hiding? Well, tonight you came back to warn us and that took courage, Davidonald." He paused. "Come on, I'll be right beside you... because we're friends." Gustickey held out his hand, believing Davidonald would take it.

"I just can't. I'm sorry." He ran off into the night.

"Davidonald!" Gustickey watched his friend's silhouette disappear into the fog of the night. "Davidonald..." Gustickey said sadly. At his feet, Pluto was there with Gustickey's hat over him. He barked sadly as Gustickey picked up the hat. "Thanks, boy." He put his hat on and wiped away the tears of loss from his eyes. As he did so, Pluto sniffed around the place, he has smelled something and growled. "What is it? What is it, boy?"

It was revealed in the form of evil laughter. The dark silhouette hobbled out of the darkness to reveal Captain Iván. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the one Musketuber," Iván said mockingly as the Musketuber and his dog stared angrily at him.

"Captain Iván, by the power vested in me as a Musketuber, I arrest you!" Gustickey said, determined. He and Pluto were the only brave ones left.

Iván laughed. "Oh, that's a good one! Well, how about this? By the power invested in my fist, I clobber you!" Gustickey gasped and tried to draw his sword, but Iván's fist came down on him before he could draw. He was knocked out cold. Pluto skittered away. He needed to get help... and fast.

Chapter 8: House of Torture

Iván took Gustickey and put him in a cage. This cage he put in the back of a carriage. This carriage was black with two black horses at its head. Had it not been for the obvious sound of the carriage and the horses leading it, they might have blended in with the darkness. Iván was taking Gustickey to the most dreaded place in all of France. Below Iván, there were two crabs trying to split a fish's bones but they ran away when they saw him.

When the carriage came to a stop, Gustickey was already awake. The cover that was on his cage was removed by Iván. He gave out a "_Hey there! Hi there! Ho there!_ _You're as welcome as can be_," before cutting loose into some strong evil laughter. Iván was at the epitome of his victory. He carried Gustickey's cage to a pit and dropped it in.

"Ow," said Gustickey. The cage had broken during the fall and it did indeed hurt.

"I am such a butterfingers," Iván said, he had a malicious smile on his face. He went down and picked up Gustickey from the wreckage of his cage.

"Hey, put me down! Don't make me have to whoop you!" Gustickey said, eyes shining brightly with defiance.

"Okay, fine. Just hold still, you runt," Iván took Gustickey's squirming form and snapped a chain around his waist. He pulled back to check his handiwork and, despite the bondage, Gustickey looked as able as ever. "It looks like this is the end of the line." Iván laughed.

"Think so, huh? My pals will be right behind us!" Gustickey said, standing at the furthest point of his chain.

"Oh, sure. The stuttering one dumped you! Remember?" Gustickey's face went sad a moment.

"Well, Goofran then!" He was sure Goofran would come.

"That hyperactive goof? He's getting fitted for a halo," Iván said darkly.

Gustickey's hope dropped like a ton of bricks on his heart. He couldn't believe it. Goofran... dead? It was almost too much to bear. "No, no, no," he said.

"Yes, yes, yes! Face it, Gustickey, it's all for one... and you are on your own!" Iván knocked Gustickey against the wall with his crutch. "Enjoy your brief stay at the Mont St. Michel. You know, they say the tide comes in faster than horses!" He removed a snuffer from his pocket and put out the only candle in Gustickey's cell. "So long, runt!" He said as he climbed the ladder. "I got myself tickets to the opera. It's a little thing called: 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King'!" He got out of the cell, slammed the door shut, and Gustickey heard the deep, evil laughter fade away.

Gustickey was all alone. He took his hat from his head and looked at it. The symbol of hope and friendship seemed so meaningless now. He threw his hat aside, wanting nothing more than to be proven wrong, to be proven that he _wasn't _alone and never would be. He brought his knees to his chest and put his head down and began crying.

Meanwhile, at a river bridge overlooking a deep death river, Nuriabelle had Goofran wrapped shoulder to ankle in chains. This spot was often used by evildoers wanting to forever dispose of do-gooders. This bridge was where many men and women had been drowned at the bottom. No friends. No hope. Nuriabelle laughed softly and pulled Goofran close to her and directed his view to the waters below.

"This is it, handsome. Get ready for the big sleep, the river of no return, the long day's journey into _night!_" Nuriabelle declared. The waters sloshed about below and no one was near except them. Nuriabelle did her most obnoxious laugh then. Victory seemed to be certain... but there was one thing no one could have predicted nor prevented: the pull of love.

Goofran was enchanted by the evil laugh of Nuriabelle's and said so: "Gosh. Your sweet voice is music to my ears," said Goofran, his voice filled with a mesmerized tone. Nuriabelle, however, did not catch his meaning. If anything, it was only confusing... and a little bit creepy. Yet, true to his word, Goofran _was _feeling musical... musical enough to express his feelings through song. "_Your chains of love now hold me tight. Your beauty makes my heart take flight_," he sang.

"_You will not change my mind one smidge. I'm going to drop you screaming off this bridge!_" Nuriabelle was still set on her plan. She hoisted him onto the railing of the bridge, but he only laughed and switched them around so that he was looking down at her. Her back was to the railing and he was back on solid ground.

"Nuriabelle, you drive my crazy," Goofran said.

It was then that Nuriabelle's consciences were speaking to her. "_His love's so sweet, his love's so blind. You have to kill him or you'll change your mind. Say farewell to that goof poor 'cause it's your duty that he take the plunge!_" they sang. All the while (particularly after "blind"), Nuriabelle sang something similar.

"_Poor fool, poor grunge, farewell... take the plunge!_" She sang. She tied an anvil to his chains and tossed him over. She was heaving the anvil further and further over the edge, but it was slow going since the thing was so heavy. The only chance he'd survive is if a miracle happened.

Undeterred, Goofran continued: "_My dear miss, you charm my soul! You leave me utterly beyond control. Call me a goof, but one thing's clear your melodious laugh is music to my ears._"

Nuriabelle's consciences went on: "_He's no Don Juan!_"

Nuriabelle crooned, "_He's not real smart and yet he's touched my little heart. He loves my laugh, my gaze._" She hauled him up and held his chain in her hands. They were inches apart as she continued, "_His numskull charm... has set my heart... ablaze!_" On that one final note, high enough to shatter the very moon above them, they came close together and the chorus sang to hide their kiss. When they parted, the two sat close together on the railing of the bridge, giving each other only looks that lovers would give each other. Unfortunately, the weight was too much on the railing and it collapsed from underneath them. Goofran fell, but Nuriabelle was able to wrap his chain around a bit of rock to save him from falling into the water. She then slid down to his level.

"Hurry, my love, you don't have much time. Your friend, Gustickey, is in _dire peril_," said Nuriabelle once she was level with him.

"No, he's not. He's in the Musketubers!" Goofran said.

"I mean he's in _danger!_" she said. Gustickey wasn't the only one "in danger" though. The bit of rock that the chain was tied to broke, causing them to fall more. They might have both been goners had it not been for Davidonald rowing a boat below, he was still in the same outfit when he left Gustickey. He was rowing right toward where they were falling.

"I'll be a Musketuber when people fall from the sky," Davidonald declared as he rowed. He didn't know that this would become true very soon. He heard screams and looked up to see Goofran and Nuriabelle falling straight for him. "Uh oh," he said just before the two humans crashed into the boat and made it break on impact.

Meanwhile, the tides were coming in... and fast. Gustickey looked at his situation and gulped at the amount of water rushing in. Over on the wall was a height chart mockingly telling him he wouldn't survive due to his stature. In his panic he thought: _Who on Earth is ten and a half feet tall anyway?_ If it wasn't obvious before, it certainly was now: anyone sent to this cell was sent there to die.

Meanwhile, Pluto had found Davidonald and Goofran (who had been released from his chains, leaving everyone survivors) and was tracking down where Gustickey was by sniffing everywhere. His pace was almost too fast for Goofran to keep up, especially with a protesting Davidonald slung over one shoulder.

"We're coming, Gustickey!" Goofran said.

"Put me down! Put me down!" Davidonald protested. His protests were in vain though. Pluto had found a boat to the island and climbed in. Goofran climbed in after the dog and slammed Davidonald down in one of the other seats. "Goofran, Iván's gonna kill us!" Davidonald tried to speak to the other boy, but Goofran was stuck on saving their friend... despite the danger.

"Iván or no Iván, Gustickey's our pal... and we got to save him! All for one and one for all. Remember? I know it's the most hideous... house of torture in all of France... but we're going in there!" Goofran proclaimed. Lightning flashed across the island in the distance, painting a menacing picture for the boy. Davidonald scrambled to the beach and dug his head into the sand like an ostrich. When Goofran saw this, he was discouraged. "Gosh, Pluto. Could this be the end of the three Musketubers?" He cried.

Out of nowhere (so suddenly it scared Pluto and Goofran), Luque the Troubadour belted out playing his lute, to the tune of Beethoven's _5th Symphony_, in song: "_This is the end! This is the end! That Davidonald Duck has left poor Gustickey Mouse to drown (He let him drown!) and Goofran trusted him, but Davidonald let him down! (He let him down!) We all berate him because we hate him. He is a traitor, vacillator, he's a lousy second-rater! Mangy boy, he's a stuttering coward! Davidonald's destiny has soured. (It's the end!) It's the end!_" As the music ended, Davidonald took Luque's lute and beat it upon the ground, breaking it into pieces.

"I'll show you, dirty singer wannabe," Davidonald said, seething with anger.

"That way, tiger," Luque said, pointing in the other direction where Goofran and Pluto were heading to the island.

Davidonald realized what he had to do. He had to do what was right... even if he was afraid. "Wait for me!" He called out. Before going to them, he went to Luque and shook his hand saying, "Thanks for the song." Then, Davidonald ran over the water and got toward the boat with all his speed.

When he got in the boat, Goofran let out a happy cry of "Davidonald!" at seeing his friend had come to help after all and hugged him. Pluto barked happily and Davidonald knew he had made the right choice. Now, it was time for the final touch. He removed his outfit and, with a magician's flair, made his Musketuber gear come out and took his Musketuber's hat from his pants' pocket. He put it on and gingerly removed the feather from inside his hat and donned it on the outside brim of it. He was a Musketuber again, more so now than before.

"Come on, we've gotta save Gustickey!" He said. Goofran nodded and Pluto made a propeller with his tail that worked like a motor, so that would propel them through the water. It whirred to life and sent them toward the island at high speed. It was all the three passengers could do to hang on.

Gustickey, meanwhile, wasn't doing so well. He tried biting the chain off or pulling it apart in some way, but it was too strong for him. He swam up and got some air, but he knew he didn't have much left. He coughed, getting in as much water as he did air. It wouldn't be long before his chain would reach his limit and he wouldn't be able to get anymore air.

Goofran, Davidonald, and Pluto, meanwhile, had made it to the island. Unfortunately, they were going too fast to be able to stop the motor in time and they crashed, splitting the boat into pieces. Though shaken, they all got up and rushed inside. "We're coming, Gustickey!" Goofran said.

Poor Gustickey. The water had come in so fast. He had gotten in his last breath some time ago and he knew he only had ten minutes before he'd drown. He couldn't risk swimming up from underneath the rock to get air since there was no air left. He looked frantically to the surface, wishing that someone would save him, but alas, his ten minutes were up. He couldn't hold it anymore and as his last bit of air went out, water bubbles came in and he slowly slipped into unconsciousness. It seemed to be over.

Then, into the water dived Goofran and Davidonald. While they knew they couldn't hold their breaths for as long as Gustickey could, they were going to try their best to save him. They pulled hard at the base of the chain on the wall and, after a bit of initial struggle, the chain came loose. Once that was done, they got Gustickey out from under the rock and carried him to the surface. Once Goofran and Davidonald had gotten a few good gulps of air in, they pulled the chain off of Gustickey and they all got onto solid ground. Davidonald turned Gustickey onto his stomach and began pumping the water out. Then, he flipped him over and Goofran listened for a heartbeat. There was still something there. So, he pumped at Gustickey's chest with his hands. Soon, Gustickey's heartbeat was coming back to normal.

"Gustickey?" Goofran asked.

"Gustickey?" Davidonald said.

"Gustickey, come back to us!" Goofran said. As they called to him, Gustickey's eyes slowly opened and he regained consciousness. He gagged up some water and tried to get the blurriness out of his vision. "I think he's coming out of it," Goofran said happily.

After a few more water-filled gags, Gustickey got in some more air. He breathed shakily and looked up at his rescuers. "Davidonald? Goofran?! Iván told me you were a goner!"

Goofran scoffed. "Shucks. I ain't going..." He was interrupted by his very grateful friend hugging him. "... Going anywhere without you, Gustickey."

"Hey!" Davidonald said.

"Aw, pal," said Gustickey, embracing his friend. "You came back."

As they parted, Davidonald said: "Aw... of course I did."

"We wouldn't let you down, Gustickey," Goofran said. "We're your friends."

"Yeah. Come on," Davidonald said, pulling out Gustickey's hat from his and handing it to him, Gustickey had a sad face while he looked at the hat. "We've got to save the princess. Don't you remember? All for one..."

"Yeah," Goofran said.

Gustickey sighed, "Aw, guys, we're not even real Musketubers."

"Not real Musketubers? Who says so? Listen, Davidonald might be a stuttering coward..." said Goofran.

"Hey," Davidonald said, feeling only a little insulted by the remark.

"... And you're just a little, nerdy guy..." Goofran continued, rustling the hair on Gustickey's head playfully. Gustickey laughed, feeling confidence coming back to him.

"... And I'm not a genius, but I know one thing: when the three of us stick together-" Goofran continued.

"We can do anything!" Davidonald said.

"And not Iván-" Gustickey said, putting his hat back on his head.

"Or no one else can stop us!" Goofran finished. The three put their hands together. They were a team again.

"Musketubers, we've got a princess to rescue," Gustickey said. His gaze held that old steely, determined look to them. Yes, Iván was about to come against a force to be reckoned with.

Chapter 9: On With The Show

The three had found a horse and crossed the bridge off the island. They then began making their way to the opera to save the princess. "Come on, Goofran!" Gustickey said.

"Come on, Davidonald!" Goofran said.

"I'm right behind you!" Davidonald replied. The three of them were all riding the same horse and Pluto sat over the horse's bottom.

Meanwhile, at the opera, Princess Sílvinnie and her lady-in-waiting, Daisofía, had arrived. They were both dressed to the nines in the finest dresses. The door to their carriage was opened by a chauffeur and the two glided out. The chauffeur that had opened the door stood beside another chauffeur in a matching purple and black uniform. The two bowed low and the one said, "Princess Sílvinnie."

"Your Grace," said the other. When the two ladies had passed, the two looked at each other with smiles. They were Sergio and Juan in disguise.

The two ladies made their way to their balcony seat, but were stopped by Captain Iván. He stood in their way. "Captain Iván?" Princess Sílvinnie asked.

"_Bonjourney_, Princess," Captain Iván said menacingly. Behind the two girls appeared the two bad guys Sergio and Juan (who were back in their normal bad guy garb).

Sílvinnie looked at them nervously before turning to Captain Iván and inquiring: "Where are my bodyguards?"

Captain Iván laughed as he pulled out a bag and put the two in. With a little effort, he held the ending shut and tied it. "I'll be your bodyguard tonight, sweet cheeks," he said.

Sílvinnie stuck her head out of one of the patches and cried, "This is an outrage!"

"No, it's my nefarious plan to steal the throne," Captain Iván replied. He pulled back the curtain behind him and there in one of the balcony seats was Villanueva in the princess's clothes and a poorly painted face. A wig was at the top of his head to mimic her hair.

"Does this crown make my hair look messy?" The bad guy in drag asked. Sílvinnie let out a loud squeal of terror before being shoved back into the sack.

"You know what to do," Captain said Iván to the other two bad guys.

"Righty-o, boss!" they replied. They opened up a trunk and Juan picked up the sack and tossed it in. The trunk was then closed and the lock snapped shut. Juan and Sergio then carried it away.

The horse carrying the three Musketubers was still running at full speed down the road. The lights from the opera were shining across the sky and Paris was quickly entering view. "Look! There it is!" Goofran cried out. They were that much closer to saving the princess.

Back at the opera, Captain Iván was on the balcony with the fake princess. "Ok, shortstop, do your stuff," he said. Villanueva took out a powder case and dabbed it all over his face. It didn't seal the look any better, but he seemed to feel good about it. He put the powder away and cleared his throat until he was certain he could bring his voice to feminine levels. He then blew an air horn that shocked everyone in the room.

He leaned over the balcony and began declaring, "Attention, my loyal subjects. Due to the stress of princessing... my duties have become too overwhelming... for a delicate flower such as myself." He giggled rather girly-like while waving a fan in front of his face. The giggling had temporarily moved the fake beak down, but it was quickly put back into place. "Therefore, I now present your new ruler: King Iván!" The audience gasped in shock.

Captain Iván pulled a cord and a giant tapestry came down with a picture of him in kingly garb looking all too dignified. He laughed in victory and said, "I did it, Mommy!" He ripped his clothes off to reveal kingly garb underneath. As he continued speaking, he removed his captain's hat to reveal a good-sized crown on his head. "I'm king of all France!" His happy/devious look grew stronger as he said, "I feel like eating a snail." He smiled wide and decreed: "Now, on with the show!"

The audience applauded as the conductor took his place at his stand. He took a low bow, casting his white hair down. When he stood upright again, he removed his wig and said, "_Allo, c'est moi_" with a wink. Luque, the Troubadour, was the conductor. He put his wig back on and tapped the stand, his hands raised and soon began moving and the orchestra followed his movements. The curtains opened and the opera began.

A group of actors were on a prop ship in pirate's costumes. They sang: "_Come, friends who plow the seas. Truce to navigation, take another station..._" They kept going on like this while the three Musketubers came to a stop in front of the opera house. They disembarked from the horse and ran inside. Pluto was sniffling and barking around the place, looking for any trace of the princess.

"That's it, Pluto, find the princess!" Gustickey said.

The pirates went on: "_With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal. In silence dread, our cautions way we feel. No sound at all, we never speak a word._" All the while, the bad guys were making their way backstage with the chest with the two girls in it. They were stopped by an angry dog and three Musketubers that were hot on the trail.

"Did you find the princess, Pluto?" Gustickey asked. Pluto pointed at the chest with his paw and firm as an arrow. "Good work, Pluto."

Within the chest, Sílvinnie had escaped the bag through the patch and untied the bag for Daisofía to get out. Sílvinnie looked through the keyhole and declared, "Our brave Musketubers have come to rescue us."

Gustickey called out, "Don't worry, Your Highness, we'll save you!" He drew his sword and said: "All right, you two, drop the princess!"

"With pleasure," Juan replied. The two threw the chest up in the air and let it fall to the ground. The princess and her lady-in-waiting screamed from within. It was only from holding onto the sides of the chest that the two were able to escape broken bones. Nonetheless, the effect was still jarring. Then, the three Musketubers charged the two bad guys and the swordplay began.

Shortly after their fight began, the pirates' song had ended and the prop ship was rolled off-stage. Three chorus girls were singing. They were not far away from the duel. "_Poor wandering ones..._" They sang. The audience gasped at seeing the sword fight, sensing that it wasn't part of the play. The girls continued, "_Can help you find true peace of mind._" At the end of this, the fight got too close for them to handle and they screamed. They fled as the fight continued.

Up in the "king's" balcony, the fake princess was watching all of this going on while the king was snoozing. He woke the king by tapping on his wooden leg with his fan. The king woke up and, following the pointing fan of the faux princess, looked to the stage where it was chaos. "What? What the sam hill?" Iván asked. He then saw the chest on the stage, abandoned. "The princess! Uh... Do something!" He commanded to the short bad guy.

"Sir, yes, sir," the short man in drag said with a salute. He left the balcony. Iván realized the ridiculousness of sending a man in women's clothes to take care of the problem only after the little man had left.

On the stage, the chorus girls were committed to finishing their song, but under the safety of a hollow prop rock. "_Scaling rough and rugged passes climb the hearty little lasses till the bright sea-shore they gain!_" With that, they left.

"How dare you try to kidnap the princess?! Nobody walks away with the princess... while Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran are on the job!" Gustickey said. While they had been saying this, Villanueva had come on stage and began dragging the chest away.

"Hey, someone's walking away with the princess," Goofran said. The fight had stopped to watch the action in disbelief.

"Let's get him!" Gustickey said.

"Huh? AH!" Villanueva said as the three Musketubers tackled the little man. After the fight broke up, the three Musketubers carried away the chest, heading toward the upper levels of the opera. Of course, to get there, they had to go all the way back across the stage. It was the scene in the opera in which the general was singing of his education.

"_I am the very model of a modern major-general. I've information vegetable, animal... historical from Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical. I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical. I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical about binomial theorem I am teeming with a lot of news._" During all of this, the three Musketubers ran away from the three bad guys up to the top of the opera. Lawrence wasn't sure if this was part of the opera, but he decided to just go with it and continue. "_With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse._"

"_With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse, with many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse, with many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse,_" sang the brave girl chorus. As the chorus went on, the Musketubers had made their way to the prop moon and descended out of the reach of the bad guys.

Iván saw this and cried, "She's getting away!" He hopped from his balcony and onto the prop sun. His weight weighed down the sun enough to bring up the moon. He put his wooden leg on the rope to stop it when the two were at equal height. All the while, the general and the chorus continued. The chest was tugged back and forth between the sun and the moon and, as this happened, the eyes of everyone else there darted back and forth as well, watching.

Somewhere between the tugging, the chest fell. Gustickey cried out, "Princess!" and swung himself back onto the stairs. He ran down and reached the stage in time to get underneath the chest's path and "catch" it.

"_Such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at and when I know precisely what is meant by commissariat, when I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery. In short-_" The general had originally been in the path of the falling chest, but stepped away in time for Gustickey to stand there and get squashed by the chest.

"Ouch," Gustickey said painfully.

Up above, Iván blew the remaining two Musketubers a raspberry before descending. In the ascent of the Musketubers, they came back in view of the three bad guys. They jumped on and Iván let go, causing the moon to fall through the stage to the basement below. After the loud crash, it sent up a small cloud of dust.

"Two down _and one to go_," said Iván. He was making his way for Gustickey.

Gustickey heaved the chest off of himself and stumbled to his feet. He was knocked out, nearly drowned to death, and now crushed by a chest all in one day. He was getting very tired. His breathing was heavy as he assessed his situation. The chest was locked and the only thing that might be able to pry it open was his sword. He shrugged and set to it. As he maneuvered it, the idea was starting to not sound so bad. "I almost got it," he said.

Sílvinnie was watching through the keyhole and saw Iván's shadow come up behind Gustickey. "Oh, no! Look out!" she cried.

"What?" Gustickey asked. He looked behind him and saw Iván, who looked very peeved.

"This is it, squeaky... _mano y mano,_" Iván said. He removed his royal robe and drew his sword. The audience gasped and any remaining cast left the stage in a hurry. The Troubadour looked through his sheets, trying to find the right music for the situation. When he did, he smiled and tapped his conductor's baton on his stand. With a quick wave of his hands, a new music began: duel music.

The swords of Gustickey and Iván clashed and clanged. They were each trying to seek an advantage. Iván smiled, feeling like he would eventually get his opponent. "Ha, ha!" he said. Gustickey was dodging, but only just. His injuries were catching up with him. "Hoo, hoo!" With his strength, Iván was sure he would win. "Ha, ha!" Gustickey finally managed to get a good opening and he took it. He knocked Iván's sword from his hand. It was sent flying, far out of reach.

"Ha, ha!" Gustickey said.

"Ho, ho," Iván said, standing on Gustickey's sword. Gustickey couldn't yank it out from underneath Iván's good leg.

"Uh, oh," said Gustickey. Then, with one swift punch, Iván sent Gustickey flying across the stage. The crowd was concerned over this unfortunate change of events as Gustickey's hat landed behind him.

Iván picked up Gustickey's sword and came up behind the weakened boy. Gustickey shifted to his back and found himself staring down the blade of a sword. "It's all over, Gustickey... and you're _all alone_," said Iván. "And now, with you finally out of the way... getting rid of the princess will be easy as pie."

Little did he know, the ropes had been moving behind him and the moon began rising again. On it, Goofran and Davidonald were standing, banged up, but still alive. Gustickey's confidence was renewed. "Ha, want to bet?" He asked.

"That's a sucker bet!" Iván said.

"Yeah, and you're the sucker," Davidonald said. He shoved the crown further down on Iván's head, making it go over his eyes. As he slowly got it off, the three Musketubers assembled once again. Goofran handed Gustickey another sword. Now, all three were armed.

"Ready, Musketubers?" Gustickey asked.

"All for one and one for all!" They said together.

"Uh, oh," Iván said. Instinct told him he was in trouble.

"How's this for a stuttering coward?" Davidonald asked, poking Iván in his eye. He recoiled, but wound up running into Goofran.

"How's this for a hyperactive doofus?" Goofran asked, charging Iván's mid-section. Iván gasped for air and tried to regain his balance.

When he did, Gustickey had something of his own to say. "And I may be a small nerd, Iván, but I've got friends that make me ten feet tall," he said. Goofran had Davidonald on his shoulders and on Davidonald's shoulders was Gustickey. They towered over Iván.

"Aw, nuts," Iván said. The Musketubers went on the attack, punching Iván until he bled. Then, to add insult to injury, Gustickey cut off Iván's fake leg with his sword.

"Timber!" Gustickey called out.

"I hate happy endings," Iván muttered before he fell. The audience cheered. The Musketubers pried open the chest and freed the two girls. Princess Sílvinnie and Gustickey joined hands and the audience let out some adoring "Aw" sounds.

Nuriabelle came running onto the stage. She stopped just short of running into Goofran. He turned and they went to embrace each other, but wound up clunking heads together. After the short disorientation, the two just joined hands and looked at each other lovingly.

Daisofía was looking dreamily at Davidonald, the boy had a nervous expression with a full smile and his arms behind his back as she pulled him from the collar of his red shirt.

Princess Sílvinnie saw this, a bit surprised by her friend's actions, and asked: "Daisofía, are you kissing a commoner?"

Daisofía giggled girlishly as Davidonald stood there, looking absolutely lost in the moment and lovestruck. "_C'est la vie_," Daisofía replied before going back to kissing Davidonald.

"Oh, _c'est l'amore_," Princess Sílvinnie said, bringing Gustickey in for a kiss. She hugged him tightly and he winced, but hugged her back before she could pull away. Pain could wait. Love was here now.

The cast of the opera had returned to the stage and began singing the ending part of the opera. Luque the Troubadour shed a quick tear of tenderness while finishing his conducting. In his efforts, however, he fell from the stage. It was a happily ever after... almost. There was still a detail or two left to take care of.

Chapter 10: New & Official Heroes 

It was the day after the battle, Daisofía picked up the ceremonial pillow carrying the ceremonial sword and followed Sílvinnie out to the courtyard where all of the Musketubers were assembled. Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran were gathered on a platform so that they could be dubbed Musketubers honorably and officially. Captain Iván had been dishonorably discharged from his duty and was due for beheading later that week. Pluto, the dog, had been given a medal for being such a good aid to the three Musketubers and he beamed proudly as he watched his masters on the platform and Nuriabelle was proclaimed the new lady in waiting, she was next to Pluto and she wiped off a tear with a hankie.

Sílvinnie stood in front of the three in her finest dress and makeup. It made Gustickey's heart heavy that they could not be legally together. They both gave each other a gentle smile. Sílvinnie removed the ceremonial sword from its pillow and said, "Please kneel." The three bowed as low as they could and removed their hats in respect. "In gratitude for saving France... I hereby dub thee, Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran... all royal Musketubers!" The three friends smiled at each other and the crowd cheered along the Musketubers, who threw all their hats in the air in excitement.

Gustickey got his friends together and said drawing his sword, "What do you say, everybody? All for one..."

"And one for all!" His friends replied drawing their swords too. They kept singing the anthem and there were many happy tears.

Luque the Troubadour gained the attention of the audience one last time. "Bravo, my friends! Ah, our three heroes have finally... made their dreams come true. I think this calls for... one more song!"

The Musketubers (including the new ones, Gustickey, Davidonald, and Goofran) sang the song: "_All for one, hey! All for one and one for all. Musketubers sing all for one and one for all and all for one and one for all and all for one and all!_" They took off their hats and made sweeping bows after they performed tricks with their swords.

Text appeared on the screen reading "The End."

The music played as the credits rolled.


End file.
